NAD C320BEE vs NAD C350

ive got mit cables bi wire and a pair of cobalt 810 jm labs.

a 512 nad cd player and wanted to know which was better the 350 or 320 bee.

thanks

Andreas:

Have you auditioned one or both of the NAD amps in question to see if you like the NAD "house" sound? The C320BEE & C352 will sound close enough with the C352 having more power and more of the most recent amp tweaks that NAD has introduced into their line. The C352 costs $600 as opposed to $400 for the C320BEE, so if cost is an issue and you don't need the extra power ... the C320BEE may be the way to go.

My comments have been geared towards a new purchase of a NAD amp. By chance, do you already own a C350 and were thinking about upgrading to the C320BEE? If this is the case, go with the C320BEE ... it is enough of a sonic upgrade over the C350 to justify an upgrade.

Regards, Rich

Great responses and advice Rar1. Not to hijack anyone's thread, but I think you've answered the question very well. Maybe this will apply to Andreas as well but I've had similar thoughts lately trying to decide if going from the C320BEE (which I am very happy with) to the C352 would be enough of an upgrade to worry about. I think I could go from the C320BEE to either the C352 or C370 for around $100. Does the same logic apply to the C370 as with the C350 as far as tweaks/refinements being an older model and all? I'm in an 11x14 room with 8ft ceilings using Paradigm Studio 40's. I don't think power is an issue but for the small price increase would welcome any associated sonic improvements, if any. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Actually, if I had a C320BEE (like I do), I would not upgrade to the C352, but would probably upgrade to the next level of integrated amp. The trade-up from the C320 to C352 would cost me about $350 ($600 list price for the C352 minus the $250 proceeds for selling the C320). I would look at the Musical Fidelity A3.2 or the Music Hall Mambo or a Creek A50i, all which would run me about a grand net of a C320 sale.

Regards, Rich

I haven't listened to either the C350 or C320BEE, but have had an NAD C340 for a couple of years (now being used as a preamp with a higher rated power amplifier) and can comment based on that, because the C350 is an uprated C340, the C352 is an uprated C350, the C320 is a lower-rated C340, and the C320BEE is an upgraded C320 that has the same power rating as a C340. These appear to be closely related designs, with some differences from model to model. All have toroidal transformers, impedance sensing circuitry, NAD "soft clipping," preamp-out circuits, the same general layout and configuration of controls, and power ratings between 40 and 80 watts/channel RMS into 8 ohm loads. The C340 is rated at 50 watts/channel, the C350 at 60 watts/channel, the C352 at 80 watts/channel, the C320 at 40 watts/channel, and the C320 BEE at 50 watts/channel. The C320 BEE and the C352 appear to be upgraded with multistage power supplies, better quality volume controls, and a few other circuit tweaks; the C352 also has an IEC power cord that can be replaced with higher-quality aftermarket power cords. The reason that NAD has been able to ring all these changes on the same basic design is simple. The basic design is a good one that offers genuine value: a moderately priced solid state integrated amplifier, designed in the UK and manufactured in Asia, with a balanced, musical sound on the warm side of neutral; reasonable clarity, detail and smoothness; and good headroom based on power reserves capable of delivering short-term peaks well above the rated power. All are good matches for comparably priced source equipment, such as such as NAD or Cambridge Audio CD players, and reasonably efficient bookshelf speakers, such as psb or B&W bookshelf models, so they provide a good basis for moderately priced systems. All do well with moderately priced interconnect and speaker cables, such as Signal Cable, MAS, Audioquest or Kimber. All are also capable of performing reasonably well with higher quality source equipment and speakers, so they can continue to anchor systems of increasing quality. The upgrades to the current C320BEE and C352 models apparently have audible sonic benefits compared with the prior models, but the prior models were quite good to begin with. I am currently using a C340 as a preamp with an NAD C270 power amplifier rated at 120 watts/channel, and a Cambridge Audio D500 CD player, to drive Vandersteen 1b speakers, using MAS interconnects,Signal Cable speaker cables, and a Cardas power cord on the CD player, and the sound of the system is very enjoyable. Higher quality (and higher priced) equipment would probably offer incremental improvements in imaging, soundstage, detail, clarity and smoothness, but NAD integrated amplifiers are a good place to start and provide the flexibility to support a growing system over a multi-year basis.